Essex cyber flashing sentence will help to highlight the offence isn't a "normal part" of life online
A woman's safety consultant in the county has spoken out after yesterday's sentencing
A woman's safety consultant in Essex is speaking out about the importance of the first sentencing in England and Wales for cyber flashing.
Karen Whybro believes that the sentencing, the first in England and Wales since the law passed in January as part of the Online Safety Act is important in letting people know that the offence isn't just a "normal part of their life online".
Yesterday, March 19, 39-year-old Nicholas Hawkes, from Basildon, was sentenced to 66 weeks in prison for cyber flashing, after becoming the first person in England and Wales to be convicted of the offence earlier this year.
The convicted sex offender sent unsolicited images to a 15-year-old girl and a woman in her sixties on February 9 this year.
Both victims took screenshots of the messages and the woman reported him to Essex Police the same day.
"It's really common, especially for younger women or younger people who spend a lot of time online"
Karen said: "It's really common, especially for younger women or younger people who spend a lot of time online and it's really important, actually, that this kind of offence is recognised as being as serious as it happening in the physical space."
"I think too often the online world and the offline world get treated as if they're different experiences when in reality they're not. Our lives online and offline are very intermingled and intertwined and we exist on both in both spaces simultaneously.
"So whether this happens to us in an alleyway, you know, how we kind of envisage flashing, flashing happening traditionally in the past, or happening now as it does for most people online, it still needs to be treated with the same seriousness.
"So if anything, this case and the conviction of this person means that hopefully it will spread the awareness around the fact that this is an offence and for young women especially, to understand that this isn't something that they should just treat as a normal part of growing up and a normal part of their life online."
What comes next?
"Those of us who campaigned for the offence to be a specific crime really wanted it to be based on consent. We know that most of the cases of cyber flashing or exchanging images happens among kind of young people, and I think there's a lot of misunderstanding around consent anyway, whether we're talking about online or offline offences and behaviours.
"And I think it would have been a really good opportunity actually to raise the profile of the discussion around consent. And how, especially for young people to conduct themselves online and understand what the laws are and where the the barriers are.
"I don't think when I speak to young people they really understand how they're committing offences by sharing images? I don't think they really understand the legislation around it and I think it's become so normalised that it really would have been a good opportunity to start that discussion around how we behave online.
"And how we need to consider the person receiving that image and how they might feel about it rather than using loopholes of intent unfortunately, which I think is going to happen to avoid these types of convictions in the future."
Speaking yesterday after sentencing, Essex Police Detective Chief Inspector James Gray said:
“Perpetrators may think that by offending online, they are less likely to be caught, however that is not the case. ‘Cyber-flashing’ has a detrimental impact on victims, and we will continue to investigate all reports of this offence.
“My main message here is to the perpetrators, people who think it’s acceptable to send these unsolicited photos without permission. It’s not and I ask those who think it is acceptable to reflect on their behaviour.”
Minister for Technology and the Digital Economy, Saqib Bhatti said:
“Cyber-flashing was amongst a host of vile offences we criminalised in January as part of our ground-breaking Online Safety Act to make the UK the safest place to be online.
“Today is a significant milestone and sends a clear message to abusers; the internet will no longer serve as a sanctuary for your sinister crimes.”